Take A Kid Fishing!

Little Man Dan's One Hand Slam!

The little man broke his hand about a month ago and has been cut out of a lot of summer kids stuff.  We headed out early for a little boat cleaning and little man twisted my rubber arm into a full blown fishing trip.  Dan said even though he was on the IR he could play hurt, so we headed out to check the flounder hole.   The water is fairly shallow there, so Dan let out just enough line to hit the bottom vertically and "cane poled" the spinning outfit, being that one arm is in a cast.  I stood on the trolling motor and told Dan just to jig it every now and then.  After I caught a few flatties, I turned around and Dan's hooked up, slingin a small flattie in the boat like KVD!  This went on for the next 30 minutes, as he slung a whiting, trout and the dreaded lizard fish in the boat as well!  We ended up catching 10 flatties, although 6 were chips we kept 4 for the grease.  After a quick run on the beach we stopped by a likely oyster, and one pop of the cork got us a nice red to complete the slam.  Daniel-you are my hero!

Honey I Shrunk the Fish! 7/26/11

With the exception of a nice Blacktip that Dad got to battle, our day was full of future keepers. Reds, Trout & Flounder were ALL short. Kent and his two sons Jason & Hunter battled the wind and rain with me today. I can't seem to remember a day where all of our fish were short. I guess this speaks well for the future though. One of the Reds was so young, it didn't get its spot yet! LOL (pic 6) The boys had a great time and enjoyed counting the many species that the Georgia coast has to offer, and I think just about every species in the marsh joined the party today. Jason & Hunter really took to light tackle fishing like pros, and by the end of the day were hitting targets and skipping under lay-downs like pros. Thanks for a great day guys, hopefully we'll get to tussle with these fish again when they leave the nursery!

Fighting the Elements & Finding the Fish 7/18/11

After getting run off the water Friday and Saturday, Michelle & I literally threw caution to the wind, ripping tides and dirty water, and set out.  We lobbed the lip diver and clacked the cork through some pretty tough conditions, but did manage seven good trout and a short.  Michelle connected with a nice one on the bomber in the back of the creek as well. 

When the tide dropped out, we did get on a good redfish bite.  It seems like the redfish have really established themselves in our area, as we continue to catch a lot of unders, slots and today a couple of real good overs.  It was awesome to get out with my baby & drop the trolling motor and chunk and wind, even though it was the land of a thousand casts during the high water.  I even got to stalk a tailer today, but only had two shots at him before he disappeared.  Sorry for the topless pictures of Capt Casper.

St. Simons Island Fishing Report 7-14-11

With Davis' heavy workload at the marina and his son A.D. here for a short time until he returns to Kentucky, we found a short window to get a trip in Thursday afternoon.  With the full moon looming and the tides being what we were dealt, we headed out with fingers crossed.  As it turned out, the fishing gods were smiling on A.D. and Pop.  We enjoyed a good bite the entire trip with a good mix of short slot and over reds.  A.D. was a little less than thrilled about chunkin back the big ones but once the reason was explained, he was very understanding. 

We got a pleasant surprise when trout showed up in our redfish hole as well, and A.D. was able to get six good keepers for dinner.  Had a brief encounter with some feeding tarpon, but no takers.  A.D. and Davis did the shark thing as well, with a nice one close to boat side that broke off before we could take a good pic.  The next shark dumped the spool and we never got a look.  Sorry fellas, Capt error for sure as we're going to have to add a couple hundred more yards for some of those toothy critters.  Thanks Davis and A.D., I had a large time!

The Bite Goes On....St Simons Fishing Report 7/11/11

You gotta love it when a plan comes together!  Rodney, Carol, Jason & Taylor made the 16 hour trek from Arkansas to visit the Golden Isles and throw in a little fishing trip.  The day started off with a pretty good Redfish bite, although we are still catchin a lot of juvenile Reds.  We were about to head out to the sound when the larger fish showed up, including a real baby bull that Taylor landed like a pro. 

Being from a land locked state, shark fishing was definitely on the menu, and boy did they show up and how!  Jason started the shark show off with a couple nice 2-3 ft Blacktips.  After catching the usual suspects, Daddy finally showed up in the form of a Blacktip right at 100 lbs.  Rodney got to shed a few pounds as he fought this beast at high noon for nearly half and hour!  This Blacktip got airborne, and stayed as green as any I've seen in a while. 

To round out the tour, we were looking for some more tablefare to go with the Reds--Flounder was next on the menu, and although the numbers have tapered off, the size has definitely increased.  Carol took the big flattie prize with a real doormat right at 4 1/2 lbs.  Thanks guys for some hot fishing in some sure enough hot weather!  By the way, it was 110 degrees in Arkansas today-just sayin' 

St. Simons Island Fishing Report 7-8-11

Had a great day of fishing with Mickey, Robin, Ed & Marc visiting all the way from Spartanburg, SC (home of the Marshall Tucker Band  ;) ), and no strangers to a rod & reel.  Robin is an avid Bass angler, while Ed, Mickey & Marc beat up the Stripers, Crappie, Catfish & assorted pan fish pretty good.  We started off Redfishing, and Robin broke out her bass busting skills by promptly landing 3 Red Bass.  Live shrimp produced many other species, including a mix of Speckled Trout, Whiting, Croaker and our usual summer resident-sharks. 

Next stop Ed & Mickey immediately hooked up with Reds-Mickey's turned out to be a bruiser that absolutely ate our lunch and finally broke off under the outboard.  We headed out to the spit for some more Whiting, Summer Trout and sharks, and were not disappointed as nearly every cast produced fish.   Wrapped up the day Flounder fishing with the Gulp & jighead combo, and while the bite was not spectacular, we did manage a handful for the dinner table.   We had a couple good downpours, but like myself this crowd from SC was in no danger of melting, and kept firing away through the wet stuff.  Had a great time and met some new friends and hard core anglers from the Palmetto State.  Can't wait to do it again!

Flounder Pounding 7/3/11

After a fun night of festivities on Saturday, Mark and I's plan was to head out at 0 dark 30 for a little trout fishing.  We woke up Sunday feeling slightly less than spectacular, and hit the water with the sun a tad higher than expected.  As we hit the beach, the sporty conditions, lack of trout and foggy heads sent us scurrying back inside.  Not sure of what to do next, we decided to break out the Gulp swimming mullet and see if we could find those fine, flat fish that have been alluding me all week.  About the third cast, we hooked a small flounder and from then on they bit pretty good.  We ended up catching 12 flounder, including a nice one right at 4 lbs that Mark stuck.  I somehow managed to let 4 flounder come loose right at the boat.  I'll attribute that to a great time had the previous evening.  It didn't seem to bother Mark, as he continued to stick some good ones and get 'em to the boat.  A good bag of fine eating and well deserved flatty fillets are headed back to Waycross.  Mark-thanks for a great weekend with your family.

Family, Friends & Fishing Report-St Simons Island 7/2/11

Michelle, Sarah, Daniel and I were fortunate enough to have our good friends Mark, Krista, Logan & Matthew come visit over the holiday weekend.  We loaded the boats Saturday with kids, bottom rigs and shrimp to go catch whatever bites.  We had a large time catching fish nearly everywhere we stopped.  It was really great for the kids (me being the biggest one) droppin their rigs down and gettin bit immediately, and come back with something on the hook.  Caught croakers, whiting, rays, sea bass, summer trout, sharks, yellow tails, bluefish, sea robin, and Michelle even hooked a ribbon fish that was nearly 3 ft long. 

We did keep a few liveys on the heavier shark rigs to see if we could get a big one cruising through.  Sure enough a Sharpnose just under 5 ft grabbed one of the baits nearest Michelle.  She fought the fish to the boat, and just when we thought the shark was whooped, he made a mad dash around the boat and threw about 7 loops around the anchor rope.  We somehow managed to play merry-go-round with the pole around the anchor line until the fish was free for some quick pics and a live release.  A special thanks to you kids for showin us a good time!